BECKLEY, W.Va. — West Virginia Division of Natural Resources police recently seized 190 pounds of dried ginseng harvested before the opening of the season, leading to 11 arrests that may only represent the start.
Ginseng hunting is a long-standing tradition among many outdoorsmen in West Virginia. There are strict rules governing the gathering of the root that is prized in the Far East for its medicinal value. DNR police say there is another set of ginseng hunters who have no interest in protecting the resource.
“The only reason they are going out to do this is for the cash. They don’t care about the resource and they don’t care when the season comes in,” said Lt. W.W. Brogan of the natural resources police. “They’re just digging everything they see and if we allow this to continue … not too far in the future we’re not going to be able to harvest ginseng because there’s going to be none left.”
The ginseng season opened Sept. 1.
“There are more arrests coming,” he said. “A lot of these cases when we got involved we found these are the same people who are dealing in drugs and stolen property.”
Officers were able to confiscate thousands of dollars in illegal drugs, $30,000 in cash, stolen guns, and other pieces of stolen property. Some of the cases involved straight trades of ginseng for prescription pills. The value of the illegally harvested root on the world market was around $180,000.
Long-time ginseng hunters provided many of the tips that led to the arrests, and the investigation continues to make new discoveries daily.
“Guys would call us and say they had an area they planned to hit on the first day of the season, but there was a guy already going up there cleaning out a spot before the season was open and doing it every day while the complainant was at work,” Brogan said.
“We are only as good as our information from the public. We have a limited number of officers to cover a big area and we rely on the public’s help with this.”
Brogan said the bulk of the illegal activity occurred in Raleigh, Fayette, McDowell, and Wyoming counties. There were also pending cases in Mercer and Greenbrier counties.